While the whole province is moved by the death of little Mariia Legenkovska, killed by a motorist in Montreal last week, a group of parents from Quebec took to the streets on Wednesday, hoping to make the City of Quebec react in the file. from the Berges school. Some have been pushing for years to secure their surroundings.
“Slowing down is better than dying,” a schoolboy wrote on one of the signs. At the bottom of the poster, he had drawn a procession of little men, automobiles and police cars at an intersection. One of the figures was lying on the roof of a vehicle.
The École des Berges is located at the northern end of the Saint-Roch district. Prince Edward Street which borders it connects the small streets of the district to the entrance to the highway which leads to the northern suburbs.
“I have lost count of the number of times I have cried murder for fear of seeing my children being beaten,” laments Vicky Plourde, whose two children attend school. “It’s the place where everything converges. The speed limit is 30 kilometers per hour there, but it is not respected,” she explains.
On Wednesday, parents and children came to cross Prince Edward Street repeatedly to illustrate the danger they say they face daily. “The cars overtake on the right and use it as an acceleration track,” also mentioned the mother of the family.
When children cross the street to go to school, they must stop on a median before crossing another small street that is safe for school transport. The landfill is tiny. At the end of the classes, “the cars graze the toes of the children”.
Death of Mariia Legenkovska
The parents hope that the awareness raised by the death of Mariia Legenkovska will make the City of Quebec react. “With the little girl who lost her life in Montreal, it reminded us of how dangerous this corner is,” summed up Dominique Papin, one of the mothers present at the demonstration. “We’ve been asking for improvements to slow down traffic around the crossing for years. »
The municipality has however launched, in 2020, a road safety strategy which wanted to “give priority to the safety of children” around schools. The plan called for the addition of illuminated signs displaying the speed limit around 90 schools. Ecole des Berges has one, prominently facing west.
The school’s governing board also received $3,000 to carry out road safety awareness activities. In November 2021, the parents took to the streets. “We gave out leaflets, held a demonstration with clowns. It was great, but it didn’t change much, ”says Vicky Plourde.
The MP for the sector, Étienne Grandmont (Québec solidaire), who was at the demonstration Wednesday, believes that the City’s strategy “does not go far enough” and that the Quebec government must impose a “zero vision” in terms of road safety. ” [Ça] assumes that humans make mistakes and that you need to create environments where speed is going to be kept to a minimum. The speed is so low that it results, at worst, in a minor accident and not mortal. »
As for the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, he said he was determined to accelerate the search for solutions to secure the surroundings of the schools. “That’s what we’re going to work on at the start of the year,” he said on the sidelines of an announcement at city hall. “We’re going to pick up the pace. I think security is priceless. »
The solution would initially go through “temporary facilities”, he also said, stressing that permanent facilities would require a long and complex process.
Finally, the mayor warned motorists that this will have “impacts on the ability to circulate in the city”. “We will all have to work together. »